DRACO INDUSTRIES

Corporate conglomerates are common in the world of international finance. Companies that exist merely because they own other companies span national, racial, and even magical borders. But none of them is as far reaching as Draco Industries. The CEO, Franz Draco, claims to trace his lineage back to a sultan from ancient Persia. This may just be a neat bit of PR (it fits with the man's opulent lifestyle), but it certainly serves to put attention on the spectacle of the owner rather than the details of the company.

Draco Industries has its figurative fingers in nearly every pie there is. Even the most cursory research reveals that it owns companies that manufacture everything from paper products to televisions to civilian and military aircraft. Also on the corporate roster are banks in a dozen different countries, private security providers, three internationally popular prepared food companies, two movie studios, a world-renowned think tank, and research firms in every scientific branch and discipline. It has contracts to produce weapons and vehicles for more than half the countries in NATO as well as mainland China, India, Pakistan, and South Africa. What research doesn't usually reveal is that Draco Industries also owns several relatively large islands scattered throughout international waters. In other words, technically, Draco Industries is a country to itself.

With the breadth of activity in the corporation, it is difficult to see any overarching plan or goal other than continuing to grow by adding more and more business arms to the company. However, it is rumored that Franz Draco not only knows everything that his company does on a daily basis, but that he personally is responsible for all major decisions in every subsidiary and partnership. It is further said that he does so with a secret purpose in mind-that he is a bit mad and occasionally talks of "ruling the world." But the world of international high finance is notoriously tolerant of eccentric multi-trillionaires.

While it's easy for heroes to work for a company owned by Draco Industries, it is extraordinarily unlikely that they can work for Draco himself. However, anyone who does get the man's personal attention (or is working on a project in which he takes particular interest) can get up to a +15 modifier to level checks to requisition equipment.

Dragon Eggs

Franz Draco works with a great many people. So many, in fact, that it is often difficult for him to find time to check in with even his most direct reports more frequently than once per month. But he felt it was important to find a way to let people know that he thought they were important-some token he could present to indicate that this person was someone on whom he relied and in whom he trusted. The symbol he decided on was a lead crystal paperweight in the form of a dragon egg-the egg being a symbol of life, growth, and potential for the future, and the dragon being a creature of power that dominates all around it.

The paperweights are hand-made exclusively by a crystal maker in eastern Europe. Each egg features swirls of air bubbles (often in the shape of a dragon or other mythical beast) in the center as well as intricate, acid-etched patterns on the skin. They refract light in pleasing patterns that play lightly over the walls and ceilings of the rooms in which they're kept. In truth, though, these dragon eggs are more than simple decorations and tokens of esteem. They have all been enchanted to help Franz Draco keep tabs on the people closest to him.

Draco owns a crystal dragon egg of his own, but his is four feet tall-it is the hub for all the other eggs. This great egg is enchanted so that it can cast detect thoughts spell centered on any of the other dragon eggs, no matter where in the world they are. Franz Draco is the only person who knows how to make the hub egg work. Draco has the egg brought with him wherever he goes.